A RUSH by teachers to allow pupils to declare themselves transgender has led to children as young as 11 being offered medical treatment that could leave some infertile, it was reported yesterday.

In nine months of 2017, more than 2,000 children were referred for treatment by GPs and schools

Bernadette Wren, consultant clinical psychologist at the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) clinic in London, said some schools were too quick to allow boys and girls to be treated as the opposite sex simply at their own request.

She said accepting demands by pupils to change names, gender pronouns and uniforms as soon as they “got a whisper that a child might be querying their identity” could do irreversible harm in later life.

The GIDS clinic is a pioneer in treatment for transgender people.

In nine months last year more than 2,000 children were referred by GPs, schools and support groups.

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10% of children referred to treatment clinics change their minds of opt out of treatment

Schools might wait for the parents to approach them before changing things like names in the register, uniforms, pronouns, toilets, sports

Bernadette Wren

The figure was 97 in 2009, so the increase is 20-fold.

Ms Wren said nearly half of older children referred to the clinic choose medical treatment to change gender, while only around a quarter of five to 12-year-olds opted for the same.

She said 10 per cent of children referred to the clinic change their minds and opt out of the treatment programme.

“In the younger age group we may get kids who are gender fluid but are not going to pursue this into later life,” she said.

“That is why we are a little more cautious about early social gender identity.

“Schools might wait for the parents to approach them before changing things like names in the register, uniforms, pronouns, toilets, sports.”

Ms Wren added that some children could grow up to regret their decision to change gender and that the physical risks included the loss of the ability to have children, particularly for those born as boys.

“Perhaps the choices they make when they are 16 look different when they are 30,” she said.